Dacia Maraini
is one of the most well-known Italian writers, author of more than fifty books. Her works are widely translated and published into many languages and her renown is also due to her fine talent as a critic, poet, and playwright.
The daughter of the well-known ethnologist Fosco Maraini, she spent her early childhood in Japan while her father conducted his research. Because of her parents’ anti-fascist views, the family was confined in a concentration camp from 1943 to 1945. After their return from Japan, for the first years she and her family lived in Sicily, in Bagheria, at the ancestral home of her mother, painter Topazia Alliata. Dacia studied in Palermo, Florence and Rome, beginning her writing career with articles in literary magazines.
Her first novel, La vacanza (The Vacation) was published in 1962, and her second one, L’età del malessere (The Age of Discontent) won the International Formentor Prize in 1963 and has been translated into twelve languages. Among her works: A memoria (1967), Memorie di una ladra (Memoirs of a Female Thief, 1973); Donna in guerra (Woman at War, 1975); Isolina (1980); Lettere a Marina (Letters to Marina, 1981); Il treno per Helsinki (The Train, 1984); La lunga vita di Marianna Ucrìa (The Silent Duchess, 1990); Bagheria (1993), Voci (Voices, 1994), Dolce per sé (The Violin, 1997), La nave per Kobe (The Ship for Kobe, 2001), Colomba (2004), Il gioco dell’universo, together with her father Fosco Maraini(2007), Il treno dell’ultima notte (Train to Budapest, 2008), La grande festa (2011), L’amore rubato (2012), Chiara di Assisi. Elogio della disobbedienza (2013).
She has won major literary prizes, notably the Premio Strega for Buio in 1999, the Premio Campiello for La lunga vita di Marianna Ucrìa in 1990, the Premio Penne for Poetry for Viaggiando con passo di volpe in 1992 and the Career Campiello Award in 2012.

Involved in feminist causes and a talented playwright, she co-founded the Teatro del Porcospino in the 1960’s and established the feminist experimental theatre La Maddalena in Rome, in 1973. The American literary magazine Aphra serially published her play Manifesto in 1972-73, and a production was subsequently presented at the Provincetown Playhouse. Another play, Mary Stuart, in these years has been performed in New York, Holland, Spain, Uruguay, as well as in Australia, Belgium, Germany, and Austria, while I sogni di Clitennestra (The Dreams of Clytemnestra) was performed in a English translation by the City Troupe in New York in 1989. Other plays include Dialogo di una prostituta con il suo cliente (Dialogue between a Prostitute and her Client), performed in London in 1980-81 and then published by Guernica in 1994, and Stravaganza performed in Vienna in 1987, then in Australia, Brazil, and Germany. Additional plays continue to be translated and performed, including the stage version of Marianna Ucrìa. Several films have been made based on her books, and she has written screenplays for directors such as Pier Paolo Pasolini, Marco Ferreri, Carlo Di Palma, and Margarethe Von Trotta.

She continues to be active in feminist causes and as a commentator on politics and society, especially in columns for newspapers and weeklies. Her articles have appeared regularly in a number of publications, such as Corriere della Sera, La Stampa, L’Unità, Paese Sera. Of these, several earlier essays have been collected in La Bionda, la bruna, e l’asino (1987).